Triage
by Riha Hyesthae
Summary: A continuation of events in "Haunted House". The disaster is over and cleanup has just begun. What needs to be done first? How do you decide what's most important? Elfe finds herself thrust into a role she was not expecting, and winds up walking a mile in someone else's boots.
1. Logistics

Triage was always the hardest. What was the most pressing problem? Who needed help the most? Midgar was in ruins, though there seemed to have been remarkably few citizen casualties. This was a good thing, but it also meant more people to house, to feed, to regulate. Shinra was gone, and it was herself and Rufus that everyone was turning to for answers.

It had occurred to Elfe that she could seize power, that she could challenge Rufus and win, that she could command SOLDIER and have them obey her- at least for a little while. Except their armies had been combined and blended. She commanded as many Shinra troops as Colonel Fair did Avalanche. They were in this together. She could not overthrow Rufus- honestly, the kid was growing on her- but she could help him make better decisions regarding both Midgar and the Planet.

Right. Headcount.

Their combined forces were still assembling. Most of the Turks were already present and accounted for, but the troops were still arriving in fits and starts. She couldn't help hugging Shears when she saw that he was still alive. Both Fair and Azul shook her hand. Knightblade and all the other 1st's were still standing. Their combined forces had sustained casualties, but it looked as if there were more wounded than killed.

"What about Sephiroth?" she asked. Fair opened his mouth, but it was Valentine who responded.

"He's alive," he said, materializing at the end of the line of officers. "Both he and Genesis survived. So did Azul's children. His wife, Aeris, and Tifa are looking after them."

For a brief moment everything went blank and quiet. It took her a minute to realize she was sitting on the ground and the line of officers had turned their backs to her.

"What...?" she began, voice breaking, and she realized she crying. A faded bandana appeared in front of her, held out by the Turk. Mutely, she took it and wiped her eyes. She still didn't trust him, didn't like him, but she gave him points for trying.

"They wanted to give you a minute," he said softly, accepting the handkerchief back. "Shall we reconvene later?"

"Sephiroth and Rhapsodos are alright?"

"Yes."

"Then, no," she said, allowing him to help her up. "I'm fine. We'll continue. iAbout-FACE!/i"

The soldiers turned to face her again.

"Okay, someone get Rufus up here. He needs to be giving as many orders as me, if not more. We need to determine what parts of Midgar are safe to return to, if any. Once we figure that out, we can start billeting the citizens and then ourselves."

"There's no freakin' way," Fair objected. "Even if we could round up a surveying team right now, it'd take them days, if not weeks to determine if anything's safe- and that's assuming anything is."

"I realize that," Elfe replied, trying not to sound as exhausted and irritated as she felt. "Do you have a better suggestion?"

Azul raised one giant hand. "Actually, I do."

* * *

The Shinra building and everything within a twelve block radius was igone/i. Jenova had punched a hole through not just the Plate and Slums, but the bedrock beneath as well. Reactor Zero and the antique buildings around it had also been destroyed, a deep lake of dark purple mako bubbling up from the aquifers miles below. The heretofore 'rotting pizza' was now a donut, tilting precariously toward a mako-filled center.

The entire population was in uproar, and corralling them wasn't easy. Harder still was persuading them to calm the fuck down and to pull together. Happily, if it was one thing Rufus Shinra was good at, it was damage control. People were used to listening to Shinras, especially the people of Midgar The funny part was that it had all taken them a moment to recognize him. He'd traded in his ubiquitous white suit for a set of fatigues and a flak jacket. Until he'd taken the helmet off, she had thought he was another one of the grunts. She watched as he climbed on top of one of the larger bits of rubble and commenced not with a stirring speech, but with barking orders. It took some persuading, but those able soon got to work helping bring order to the chaos. Elfe couldn't help thinking that this might all be a bit easier if Sephiroth had still been standing. However, he wasn't, and so directing the troops in their crowd control efforts fell to her.

With the citizens herded to a safe distance, those with experience in building, construction, and similar knowledge volunteered to help the troops test some of the less damaged areas of the city. The most pressing concern- no pun intended- was whether or not the half-collapsed Plate would stay that way. She caught site of a couple of the Shinra executives, expensive suits replaced by work clothes, helping those of a significantly lower tax bracket go over what remained of the city. Someone had already organized a canteen of sorts, and tents and more permanent structures were already being commandeered for children and the elderly. It was a start, but it wouldn't be half enough. Which led to their next problem.

"Think you can get us down there?" Elfe asked, eyeing the slope of debris that led down to the pool of dark mako and the exposed walls of Deepground.

"We can get down, sure," Azul remarked, already climbing. "It's how we're gonna get everyone else down here, provided it's safe, of course."

That was indeed the rub. Elfe followed, hoping that there was still enough left of Deepground to be salvageable, and then taking a moment to appreciate the bizarreness of the thought. The pool of mako had not come so high as street level, not even the slums. The highest floors of Deepground had been exposed, the houses, factories, and other buildings of Old Midgar exposed like an enormous museum diorama. Elfe thought she saw one or two cautious faces peeking out from the windows, but she couldn't be sure. Once at the bottom of the landslide, she could see that there were tunnels and holes, points of access in the rubbish that could be further cleared and eliminate the need for climbing. She made a note to have some of the infantry begin clearing a path should this turn out.

Azul wasn't much on squeezing through tight spaces, but he was handy in clearing a way forward. How they were going to get down to the upper levels of Deepground, she wasn't entirely sure. There certainly weren't any stairs, and she didn't see any access ladders. Azul was surveying the mess, hands on his hips and brow deeply furrowed.

"What do you think?" Elfe asked him.

"Deepground was more than just Reactor Zero," he began after a moment. "It was as big as Midgar itself; different units under different sectors. Mothers under Sector 6, kids under Sector 7, troops under 4, an' so on. What we want is to get down to the Mothers n' kids. Make sure everyone's in one piece."

Elfe nodded. "Any idea what we're up against?"

"You mean troops?" Azul asked, turning to her. "Dunno. Won't know until we get down there. Hopefully your Turk took care a' that. Long as there's no Restrictors we shouldn't have no problems."

"I guess we'll find out."


	2. Women and Children

It took several hours to get over to Sector 6, and then to find a way down. Once inside, Azul took point and strode forward with great determination. Elfe had to keep looking over her shoulder at the open sky to remind herself that she had not, in fact, wandered into an alternate dimension. Old Midgar had been well on its way to becoming a memory when she'd been brought to Old Midgar General as an injured toddler. She had no memory of these antique buildings and stone streets herself. It was strange to think that her father probably had memories of this place before it had been buried like so many other of Shinra's dirty little secrets.

They encountered no one at first, finding only shapeless piles of uniform clothing and discarded weapons scattered around the empty streets. Elfe supposed this must have been the work of either Jenova or Aeris' Healing Rain. It was impossible to say. Emergency lights glimmered red and green the deeper they went, everything else having been taken offline by Vincent and Jenova.

"Where i _is_ /i everybody?" Elfe asked. Azul seemed equally perplexed by the lack of any sort of reception.

"Well, the Mothers n' kids are probably on lock down," he reasoned aloud. "Makes sense they'd stay hid. I can't imagine they sent everyone out after you, though. There oughtta be some guards lef-" He broke off and stopped short, eyeing a discarded coal black helmet with a broken crest. Stooping, he picked it up and looked at it for a long moment. Opening her mouth to ask, Elfe shut it again as Azul closed his fist over the helmet, crushing it as if it were made of tinfoil. Hurling it to the street, he spat after it.

"Good riddance," he grumbled. "That's at least one a' them gone."

"Them?" Elfe echoed, confused.

"Restrictor," Azul muttered. "Looks like your Turk did his job. With any luck he got the rest of 'em too."

Elfe was about to point out that Valentine was not 'her' Turk, but Azul had already turned his back.

"Kids 'er back this way," he called over his shoulder. Elfe hurried to follow.

* * *

Had she not known better, Elfe would have thought she'd wandered into the same orphanage where she'd grown up. The children of Deepground- and it seemed a crime against nature to have those two words in the same sentence- had been housed in a series of buildings. One of the structures had obviously been a school at one time, and was apparently still serving the same purpose.

"Kids?" Azul called out. "S'all right. They're gone. The Restrictors're dead. Ain't nobody gonna hurt ya."

Elfe watched as cautious eyes peeped between the louvers of the old wooden blinds. After a moment, the heavy door of the antique school creaked open and a female face peeked out.

"Captain?" she asked. The woman wasn't much older than Elfe was herself, though more than a few strands of gray ran through her dark hair.

"S'alright," Azul repeated. "This's Commander Verdot. We just come to make sure everybody's okay."

"So it's true?" the woman at the door asked. "They're really gone? We're free?"

"It's true," he replied. "We're free."

The woman smiled, tears spilling down her cheeks as she opened the door as wide as it would go. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you…"

There was cold comfort to be had in that there were fewer than two hundred children, most of them somewhere between the ages of twelve and seven. Shaula's little sister Shelke was in among these, Azul picking her out and setting her on his huge shoulders when they found her. Elfe would have liked to lead all the children back to the surface immediately, but reuniting them with any family they might have would have to wait. For one, Midgar was presently in worse shape than Deepground; and two, it would take time to figure out who these children belonged to, if anyone.

"Where's all the little kids?" Azul asked one of the matrons. "I thought you had more n' this?"

The matron- the same woman who had answered the door- was quiet for a long and uncomfortable minute. "The short answer is...I don't know. The whole town was flooded with dark mako. It washed in like a tidal wave. We made sure all the children were safe, we thought the doors and windows would keep it out, except...it didn't. I wasn't i _too_ /i worried, mako is breathable, but when it receded...half the children were gone."

"Which half?" Azul asked, voice hushed. The matron shifted uneasily and looked up at him with fear in her eyes, as is afraid he might strike her if he didn't like her answer.

"The trueborn."

Instead, it was Azul who looked as if he had been struck. He staggered where he stood, Elfe automatically reaching out a hand to steady him despite knowing it would do little to keep the big man on his feet.

"All the trueborn," he muttered, his expression a painful mix of sadness and disbelief. "All them babies…"

"What are trueborn?" Elfe asked the matron since Azul did not appear able to answer.

"Trueborn are the children of Mothers," the matron explained. "They were born here in Deepground and not...imported."

"Imported my ass," Elfe growled. "Kidnapped, more like."

"Commander," Azul said, resting a hand on her shoulder and almost forcing Elfe to her knees with the weight. "It's not the matron that done this. We'd best see to the Mothers. Ma'am."

He nodded politely to the matron and steered Elfe toward the door. She was on the point of telling him to take her hands off her, but the shocked, anguished expression was still in place. Once outside, he let her go and sank down onto the steps.

"...Captain?" Elfe asked him. For a moment the big man hid his face in his massive hands. After a minute he emerged and looked up at the sun through the hole Jenova had made in the wall of the artificial cavern.

"All them babies…" he muttered sadly.

"I don't understand," Elfe said, feeling it best to get to the point. "What about the babies?"

With a heavy sigh, he turned to face her. "You remember what happened to the Deepground troops back at Corel, right?"

"They all melted away under Aeris' Healing Rain."

"You know why that happened?"

"I was under the impression it was because of the Jenova in their bodies."

Azul nodded. "Not all of 'em died. You had more prisoners like me, folks who'd been press ganged as adults."

"Right, they weren't born with Jeno-" Elfe broke off, horrified, as realization dawned. "All those children were born with Jenova's cells like Sephiroth. They were washed away in the flood. Oh gods Azul, I…"

The giant shook his head. "Ain't nothin' no one can do about it now," he said quietly. "They'll have gone back to the Planet, bless their lil' hearts."

"I'm so sorry…" It wasn't much, but she couldn't think of anything else to say. She could only imagine how many young lives had been lost, returned to the Lifestream before they had had a chance to begin. Perhaps it was better this way. Gods knew what she would have done if faced with a hundred or more children all born carrying Jenova's DNA. Elfe did not want to think about it.

"You mentioned mothers?" she prompted, feeling it was best to keep moving. Perhaps they could hold a memorial for the lost innocents later. She would mention it to Rufus.

"Yeah," Azul said, getting to his feet. "Mothers are over this way."

* * *

The Mothers were in a similar state- all of them locked up in an old dormitory- and very happy to know that they were free. As with the school, there were no children, no babies anywhere- unless one counted the expectant mothers themselves. Virtually all the women in the Mother's sector were pregnant. Quite a few of those in their first or second trimesters seemed no worse for the wear, but those nearing the end of their pregnancy were in rather worse shape. More than one of them had their head buried in a basin. Several others had gone into labor shortly after the mako had subsided, but according to the doctors and nurses, none of the infants had survived.

"I suspect it's to do with the Jenova," one of the doctors went on, apparently happy to have someone to lecture. "Most of the fetuses appeared to be stillborn. It wasn't that we couldn't get them to breathe, they were already dead, but that's natural selection for you. We're only interested in the strongest and brightest-"

"Stop talking," Elfe told her sharply. The doctor, noting Elfe's scowl and Azul's silent look of white rage, hurriedly shut her mouth with a snap.

"We'll be bringing wounded down here," Elfe went on. "No Jenova, no mako, no double-crossing. Do you think you can handle basic first aid?"

The doctor flushed pink, somewhere between embarrassed and insulted. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Good." Elfe didn't trust the Deepground physicians any farther than she could kick them. However, shady help was better than no help at all. She'd have her own people turn the medical facility inside-out before she let any of those quacks apply so much as a Band-Aid.

Exiting the Mother's sector with a few of the less-pregnant women in tow, she, Azul and a small group of Deepground volunteers set to work getting the electrical grid up and running. According to the Deepground locals there were back up generators that would keep the complex going for several days. With any luck- and she couldn't believe she was thinking this- they could have one of the mako reactors that ringed Midgar online before then. Temporarily, of course. She'd talk to Rufus about it.


	3. Hot Water

The echoing 'BOOM' made more than one person look up. It wasn't a cloud of smoke, but steam that billowed into the winter air.

"Oh gods," Elfe breathed, horror shivering through her, "the reactor!"

She and several other Avalanche/Shinra operatives took off toward Reactor 8 at a dead run. In the back of her head, she couldn't decide if she felt smug that the reactor had gone up, or sorry. Once returned from Deepground, she and Rufus had argued over the necessity of bringing even one reactor back online.

"Look, I get it, I do," he'd said. "I saw the empty mako aquifers. Mako isn't a long-term solution, but we need something _now_. What would you have us do? Burn rubbish? People's houses? Midgar is wired for mako power. If we can even get one reactor back online it would be something. We need computers, we need refrigerators, heat, hot water, street lights, and telephones. We can't do any of that without electricity."

As much as she hated to admit it, he'd had a point. She had relented to one reactor, and Rufus and his team of engineers had left as soon as she'd said yes. That had been hours ago. Most of the reactors that ringed the city had been largely undisturbed. Reactor 8 had been Rufus' first choice because it was routed to where most of the refugees were sheltering, and because the area surrounding the reactor itself was primarily industrial. There were no homes or businesses to burn down, just a lot of steel and concrete. Elfe had been concerned that the reactors might be more damaged than they appeared, and it looked as if she'd been right.

It was not a comfortable feeling.

It was hard to even see the reactor. Steam billowed from every possible crack and crevice, valve and vent. People in protective clothing streamed from the entrance like ants from a hill. Almost at once they began tearing at their gear, stripping off the jackets and trousers and shaking out their limbs. It took her a moment to realize that the discarded clothing was giving off a not insignificant amount of steam; everyone was soaking wet with scalding hot water. Rufus- his blonde hair visible through the fog- was being assisted from the reactor by two others. Once outside, the engineers sat him down on the ground and helped him remove his own protective suit.

"What the hell…" she trailed off, noting Rufus' labored breaths and too-red skin. His face, throat, and hands were badly blistered, his eyes nearly swollen shut. Tears ran down his cheeks, but no sound escaped from behind his clenched teeth even as someone cast a cure spell on him. Rufus gasped at that, collapsing weakly against one of the workmen.

Crouching down next to him, Elfe watched as the burns faded and the swelling subsided. He still had some recovering to do, might carry a scar, but at least now he wouldn't need skin grafts.

"Are you okay?" she asked him, genuinely concerned. "What happened?"

"Damn thing blew sky high," he panted, still dizzy with pain and endorphins. "We went over the whole thing top-to-bottom and inside-out. There was nothing wrong. We started at the lowest setting. When we came in it was set at 80%. We reset it to ten."

"You must have missed something."

"I didn't miss anything," Rufus snapped. Taking a deep breath, he carefully touched his healing face with his fingertips and winced. "I didn't miss anything," he repeated more calmly. "I know mako reactors. It wasn't a short in the system, or a leaky pipe, or a bad valve. I was watching the gauges myself. Normally it takes forever to bring a cold reactor online. It had barely warmed up when the output gauge went through the gods damned roof. I was trying to troubleshoot the system, thinking there must be a glitch somewhere when pipes started bursting and we got a jet of steam in the face."

"Ouch," Elfe commented, wincing.

"No kidding," Rufus grumbled. "Anyway, I think everyone got out okay." Turning, he raised his voice and addressed the others: "Everyone get out okay?"

There were noises and nods of confirmation.

"Everyone got out okay," he repeated, turning to her.

"Except for you."

Rufus shrugged. "Accident. I'll live. I may not be as pretty, but I'll live."

Elfe was unable to suppress a smirk. "I'm sure you'll manage."

Rufus smiled back, realizing quickly what a mistake that was. "What I don't get is why it overloaded like that? It took eight reactors- nine, if you count Reactor Zero- running at full capacity to power Midgar. How the hell did we manage to blow one at just 10% power? What's different?"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," she said, helping him to his feet. "Will you repair this one, move onto another, or try something different?" She was honestly hoping for that last one.

"Well, unless you have a better idea, I'm going with options one and two," Rufus told her with gentle pragmatism. "I want to make sure that this wasn't an isolated incident. We'll make repairs to this one and try not to blow it up a second time. I also want to inspect the other reactors. Maybe it was just this one, maybe it wasn't. I want to be certain I'm not crazy, and that the gauges are defective. We can work on alternative energy sources once we have the lights on again."

"And what if the others all blow up?"

Rufus looked dryly amused. "Then you'll have gotten your wish, and you'd better have a backup plan waiting."

Elfe couldn't help smiling. "I'll work on it."


	4. Wounded

Not sure what else to do, they'd left Sephiroth, Genesis and the two Tsviets in the mako puddle. They'd been lying unconscious in the mako-filled crater ever since the battle with Jenova. The surviving clinics and hospitals in Midgar were already overrun and none of them had mako pods. Summon materia or not, all four SOLDIERs had taken a beating. Regrowing one's entire body from the inside out in a matter of minutes was not the sort of trauma that a standard ICU could handle.

The nurse Rui had rigged IV lines for all of them, and a couple of Science Department refugees had known the recipe for a nutrient drip capable of dealing with SOLDIER metabolisms. Mako didn't freeze, so at least there was no worry of those submerged getting frostbite. Someone had set up a tent over the crater to keep the snow off. A second tarp had been stretched over the pothole itself to allow its occupants some privacy. Once Deepground's medical wing was deemed safe, they could all be transferred indoors. Elfe hoped none of them would need to spend additional time in a mako pod- she got the feeling that Sephiroth in particular might not take that well- but at least they wouldn't be lying naked in a hole in the middle of the street.

Although she would have liked the four of them to be the first patients installed in the Deepground medical unit, Sephiroth, Genesis, Rosso, and Weiss were actually among the last to be transferred. They were perfectly fine and stable where they were. Others were in worse shape and needed treatment more urgently. The better part of four days went by before they could be moved. Each had to be carefully wrapped in blankets, their faces obscured so that no one would bother about one more injured soldier. Sephiroth and Genesis did not need to be accosted by overly-grateful fans while unconscious.

Deepground had mako pods to spare. The design was dated, but adequate. Not entirely trusting Deepground's medical staff, Elfe placed a guard over each of the sleeping SOLDIERs just to be on the safe side. Indeed, the united Shinra/Avalanche staff had both tossed and taken over the Deepground medical facility, to absolutely no one's disappointment- with the noted exception of the Deepground medical staff. Apparently the physicians were universally mistrusted by pretty well everyone, including the surviving Deepground troops.

Azul's children woke up first. The woman- Rosso- thrashed and fought against the walls of the mako pod until her mother appeared on the other side of the glass. Once she was able to leave the pod, however, she screamed and fought off anyone who dared to approach her who wasn't her parents. In the end, Azul held her as if she were a toddler terrified of a vaccination shot while Rui looked her over.

"Does anything hurt?" Rui asked, carefully taking Rosso's vitals. "Any pain, lightheadedness, blurry vision?"

Rosso did not answer, confusion creasing her features at the question as Azul answered for her.

"She don't feel pain," he said quietly. "Never could. That ain't the problem."

"What is the problem?" Shalua asked.

"She was never this scared before," Azul said, smoothing one big hand over his adopted daughter's hair. "Never known her to be afraid of anything."

"I'm not afraid," Rosso murmured, snatching her arm back the moment Shalua was finished with her.

"No, of course not," Shalua agreed, completing her notations. "I'd like you to rest for a few more days. You don't need to stay in the hospital, but I can't recommend you returning to duty just yet."

"I want to sit with Weiss," Rosso stated flatly.

Leaning, Azul touched his forehead to hers. "Of course, darlin'."

* * *

Her brother Weiss was less combative when he woke, but fiercely protective of his sister. He submitted calmly enough to treatment, but needed a full explanation before he'd let anyone near Rosso.

"They ain't really brother and sister," Azul had explained later. "They got different parents, but they all grew up together. Only Weiss n' Nero share a mother."

Elfe had not yet met Nero, only heard of him. Evidently Weiss' younger sibling had the startling habit of quite literally lurking in the shadows. He'd terrified several of the nurses and a couple of the sentries. Azul had physically hauled him up out of his own shadow by the collar and given him a dressing down. After that, only rarely did Elfe catch the glimmer of golden eyes watching her from a dark corner.

His siblings were certainly happy to see him, both of them sobbing over him as if he'd returned from the dead. Elfe had no idea what had happened there, and did not ask. It was not her place to pry into their family. However, she couldn't help wondering if she'd created more problems by assisting in their rescue? All three of them- five if one counted Azul and Argento- were on par with Sephiroth and Rhapsodos; SOLDIERs augmented by Summon materia instead of Jenova. They were just as powerful as they had been before their baptism by Healing Rain. Although she was not sorry they'd been set free, she wondered if it was wise to let them run loose?

"What do you want to do?" she asked Azul later. "I need every pair of hands, and you and your family know Deepground better than anyone."

"I'd like to help," he replied. "I think the kids would too. It'd be better than sittin' around. They're not used to that."

Elfe nodded. "Okay. Do you think they're ready? Can I trust them?" The question might sound rude, but these were people she didn't know, had never interacted with before. Azul took her inquiry as intended, his brows furrowed in thought.

"Weiss' okay, I think, Nero too. Rosso…" he trailed off, glancing across the cavern at his daughter. Although she'd spent days submerged in mako, Elfe wondered if she was fully healed. There was a stiffness to her movements, as if anything other than standing perfectly still was painful. She seemed functional enough among her own family, but whether or not she was fit for duty was another thing entirely.

"Somethin' happened there," Azul went on, voice guarded, as if afraid someone might overhear. "They won't tell me, and Argento an' Nero weren't around when it happened. Somethin' ain't right, but I don't think it'll affect their ability to follow orders. Might help get them outta their own heads."

"Okay," Elfe agreed. "I'll find something for them to do. It won't be hard. There's no shortage of things that need to be done."

* * *

There was so much to be done that none of the Tsviets- as they called themselves- wound up having just one job. Deepground had its own set of difficulties to sort out in conjunction to the mess above-ground. Rather than let them loose, Elfe stuck close to Weiss and Nero for their first few assignments. Not because she didn't trust them, but because she needed to understand how they led, how they thought. She already knew Azul to a small degree, but his children were new and unknown.

Nero, despite standing head-and shoulders- taller than herself, proved oddly childlike. Azul insisted all of his children were over twenty, but Nero felt more like fifteen to her. That was not to say he was irresponsible or foolish. Rather, for someone who appeared to be made of shadow, he usually had a smile on his face and seemed eager to please and to help with all the good will and energy of a puppy. His ability to manipulate shadows proved invaluable, making it easier to shift items and (some very reluctant) people from the surface to Deepground and back.

Weiss was quieter, more commanding, and clearly used to being in charge. Watching him give orders was- strangely- almost like watching Sephiroth. The surviving troops seemed to love him as much as they feared him. While his treatment of his men was a bit heavy-handed, it was in no way cruel or mean-spirited. Elfe had seen bullies in command, and it was never a pretty sight. Weiss might have been engineered to kill, but this was not the first time she'd been fooled by Shinra.

Azul, predictably, did the heavy lifting. Almost twice as tall as most men, he quite literally lifted huge, heavy pieces of debris and equipment with his bare hands. Not until Reeve and Scarlet had dug out a warehouse full of mecha prototypes did he receive any help. The robotic contraptions had been designed for combat, but made very good excavators. Azul was never too busy to answer any questions she might have, but seemed distracted by his children. However, he did not share his concerns with her, and Elfe did not feel it was her place to pry.

His wife., Argento, was a petite woman, and though she could not shift large or heavy objects, her knowledge of metalworking was invaluable. Elfe would have liked to have her assistance in more of the structure projects where the Plate and the remaining supports were concerned, but so far she'd only been partially involved. Like Azul, she was worried about her children, particularly her daughter.

The materia and Healing Rain should have cured Rosso of any past injuries, but like Sephiroth and Genesis, she had maintained scars of her own despite her regeneration. There was a degree of surprise to her thousand-yard stare, making her look perpetually startled. Often Argento sat with her shoulder-to-shoulder in silence.

"Is there anything I can do?" Elfe asked during one of the rare moments Argento had left her daughter to her own thoughts.

"You are very kind," Argento told her, "but this is a wound that magic and medicine cannot heal. Time alone will bring her peace. I am afraid that is all you may give her."

"Of course," Elfe agreed. If Rosso wasn't up for helping, that was fine. It wouldn't be right or fair to put a trauma victim into a situation they weren't ready for. "Take as long as you need."


	5. Casualties

It took longer for Genesis and Sephiroth to come to. Actually, only Genesis was up. Sephiroth had yet to awaken. Elfe had expected the younger SOLDIER to either make much of his injuries, the better to have Rui fuss over him; or else attempt to immediately wade into the logistical nightmare of which she was currently jointly in charge. Instead, he seemed content to rest quietly, at least for the moment, accepting the doctor's decree that it would be a week or more until he could be released. Although he was in significantly better shape than he had been before the battle, he was still weak.

"Does it feel strange to you?" he asked when she came to look in on him.

"Does what feel strange?"

Genesis tapped his forehead with one finger. "Having another voice in your head; another consciousness. Jenova was manipulative and domineering, but most of the time she didn't provide much in the way of conversation."

Elfe smiled. "You get used to it. It's not so different from having a roommate. You'll work it out."

"I don't mind it," he assured her. "It's just...different. I'm not sure I'd like having the inside of my head completely silent."

In the back of her head, Zircon seemed amused at this. Looking past Colonel Rhapsodos and around the edge of the pulled curtain, Elfe could just make out the foot of the second bed. Turning, Rhapsodos followed her gaze.

"No change?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I threatened him with eternal slumber a couple of times in the past but I never actually…" He trailed off and swallowed hard. Unsure if this was the right thing to do, Elfe patted his shoulder with one hand.

"He'll be alright. It makes sense that he'd be the last to wake up."

"Yes," Rhapsodos was quick to agree. "You know 1st Class SOLDIERs, we always have to make an entrance."

Elfe smiled at that, perhaps a little harder than she might have ordinarily. Beneath the bravado, behind the humor, Genesis was just as worried about Sephiroth as she was. Pushing the curtain back a few inches allowed a limited view of the hospital bed and its occupant. Aside from the collection of IV tubes trailing from one arm, Sephiroth looked no worse for the wear, despite nearly melting away under Aeris' Healing Rain. Someone had swept his long hair to one side so that it hung over the edge of the bed. She was used to seeing him without a hair out of place, but at present he didn't look much like his propaganda posters; his hair uncombed and the faint beginnings of silver stubble shadowing his cheeks and chin.

He still had the deep, shallow breathing pattern of someone deep in mako stasis. Rui had assured her he would wake up eventually, but had not been able to give her a hard and fast timeframe. SOLDIERs had a unique physiology as it was. Now that he carried a Summon materia, it was impossible to know how his recovery might proceed. The only thing Rui had been adamant about was that Sephiroth- and Genesis too- _would_ recover. It was just a matter of when.

And what would she do then?

Their duel in the railyard felt like a lifetime ago. That had been their first kiss, their second had been the brief peck on the lips she'd stolen before running to lead the charge into Midgar on the Plate. They had agreed to wait to go any further, to make no attempt at a relationship until Jenova had been defeated. Now Jenova was gone, and to be honest, so was Shinra. Admittedly Rufus was still alive, but she had higher hopes for him. Indeed, here she was, helping him repair a mako reactor- _just_ the one- and heart aching for a man she'd long thought of as her enemy.

For so many years, Shinra as a whole had been the heartless, soulless force that had killed her family and ravaged the Planet. Up close, however, Rufus had proved to be remarkably amenable; willing to admit when he was wrong, and eager to compromise. Even more startling had been Sephiroth. Shinra's star SOLDIER, the scourge of Wutai, had a surprisingly gentle demeanor for one famed as the world's greatest killing machine.

He had carried her on his back, brought the missing Zirconiade shards to her, and above all trusted her when he had no reason to. He had taken it upon himself to liberate the Corel Prison, Deepground, and even Midgar itself. He'd defected from the company that had made him and taken the whole damn army with him. His men loved him, she had witnessed it herself, and he cared for them as well.

Maybe it was her own sensibilities that made it all seem so strange, so awkward. Was she selling out or exercising a peaceful truce? Was this- figuratively- sleeping with the enemy, or employing good diplomatic skills? It was getting harder and harder to tell. She got the feeling Shears might think she was getting too cozy with both Sephiroth and Shinra. Even if Shears didn't think that, even if she wasn't getting too familiar with a former enemy, once Sephiroth woke up, she wasn't at all sure how to go forward.

Genesis' words came back to her: _We each come with enough emotional baggage to cripple a King Behemoth, and have been taught that the best way to cope with stress is to either stab it in the face, or to purge it with flame. If he cannot beat the problem into submission, he is totally at a loss._ And really was she any different? Sephiroth and her own emotions were a thornier problem than she wanted to admit. If it were anyone else but the Great General Sephiroth she wouldn't be this nervous. Then again, if it were anyone else, it would not be an issue.

Was it truly selling out, or was she just being a coward? Was she so afraid of one man? If she couldn't best him with a sword, was she helpless before him? If Genesis was to be believed, Sephiroth might be equally bewildered by her. It was a depressingly reassuring thought. Her last boyfriend had been at fourteen and little more than a puppy love crush. Not long after that had come Avalanche, and more important things to worry about. Once she'd become commander she'd put away all thoughts of romance. Had she attempted a relationship of any kind, it might have undercut her authority. She had been married to her work, her only lover her sword. Now, however…

It was too perfect, really. Almost like an arranged marriage. She and Sephiroth were both Generals of their own armies, so there wasn't a fraternization issue. They were equals in skill and wits. They had both led less than typical childhoods. She could sympathize with him in ways others could not. They had each lived a long time alone, with only the voice of another entity in their heads for company. Indeed, now each of them carried a Summon materia, so they even had that in common. So why was she so worried?

' _Daughter, you make much out of nothing,_ ' Zirconiade whispered gently. ' _Do not trouble yourself so over that which has not yet happened._ '

' _I know,_ ' Elfe sighed. ' _It doesn't change the fact that I haven't any idea of what I'm doing- or will do once he wakes up._ '

Zirconiade seemed amused. ' _Is there anything to be done?_ '

There were any number of things that needed to be done, and would be for months if not years, but Zircon wasn't talking about the state of Midgar. As for Sephiroth…

' _I don't know,_ ' she replied honestly. ' _Is there?_ '

"Excuse me?" a new voice cut into her thoughts and Elfe turned to face the speaker. The little blonde boy still in his infantry uniform but with a SOLDIER's sword slung on his back saluted her. What was his name…?

"What is it Strife?"

"Sorry to intrude," he said, saluting again, "but we have a situation."

Elfe felt her brows crease. "A situation? What's happened."

"Colonel Fair didn't tell me, Ma'am, but Mr. Palmer's been calling the General's PHS. He told me to come find you."

Palmer and the Turks were supposed to be watching Sephiroth's younger brothers. Something must have happened. Pulling the curtains closed around Sephiroth's bed, she turned and faced the young SOLDIER.

"Lead the way."


	6. Babysitting

Colonel Fair was waiting in the building they'd commandeered as a command center. At his elbow stood his girlfriend, the little flower girl who'd weakened Jenova that Zirconiade and Sephiroth might finally make an end to her. Her father Veld, Valentine, and one of the Tsviets were also gathered, waiting for her. Valentine and the Tsviet- it was the younger boy, Nero- were engaged in a muttered conversation of their own. Upon her entrance, both looked up at her and Elfe stopped short and blinked.

An argument could be made for a superficial resemblance between Valentine and Sephiroth- going by the old wedding photograph, it was more likely Lucrecia Crescent had simply had a "type"- but looking at Vincent and Nero side-by-side was like seeing double.

Nero's eyes were gold and Valentine's deep red, but that was the only difference between them. They could have been twins, perhaps clones given that each had spent a not insignificant amount of time in the Shinra Science Department. Both had the same ghostly pale skin, long, ragged black hair, and narrow, lanky body. Neither ever said much, but Nero could be painfully shy whereas Vincent was simply quiet. As soon as he noticed her looking at him, Nero dropped into Valentine's shadow and out of sight. Everyone started at this, giving Elfe a precious second to recover.

"What's this all about?" she asked, following Strife deeper into the room.

Fair held out a PHS, open and buzzing, to her. "It's for you."

Taking it, she held it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Oh Felicia! Er- Miss Verdot! I mean Commander! Oh hells, I'm making a mess of this…"

"Is this Dr. Palmer?" Elfe asked. She had only known the portly astronomer by name and by sight. She had never heard him speak before.

"Yes! Sorry! I'm afraid I'm a bit beside myself. Fred and I are in a tizzy."

"What's happened?" she asked him.

"I'm so sorry! We kept an eye on them, I thought they were happy here, but when Fred went to wake them for breakfast the other day, their beds were empty!"

"Who did what now?" Elfe had a sinking feeling she already knew.

"The boys! Sephiroth's brothers! I'm afraid they've vanished!"

Elfe barely heard Palmer's blubbered apologies. She couldn't even be mad at the man. Asking anyone who wasn't a SOLDIER to manage three children augmented with both Jenova and mako simply wasn't fair. Palmer was still talking.

"The girls and I have been all over town trying to find them. They can't have gone far. I'm sure they'll find them soon but I'd just feel better if you could send someone to come and help us!"

"Of course," she agreed, eyeing those present. "We'll be there directly."

Palmer was babbling thank you's as she snapped the phone closed and pocketed it.

"What's up?" her father asked.

"Sephiroth's brothers have gone missing," she explained. "Myself and a small team will go to Kalm to help look for them."

Looking at those assembled, she tried to think who would be best to bring. Not Fair. _Someone_ had to stay and keep an eye on things while she was gone, hopefully not for long. How hard could it be to chase down a couple of kids?

Aeris might be a good choice. She was sweet and non-threatening. Also, her Cetran heritage might be advantageous. Zircon could detect Jenova, but it wouldn't hurt to have someone else to help scent the trail, as it were.

Nero had disappeared upon her entrance. Evidently he was still a bit skittish around strangers. The most literal of wall flowers, he preferred to hide in dark corners whenever possible. At one time he'd carried Jenova's cells, but no longer. Although he carried a Summon materia himself, Elfe wasn't sure he was ready for a field mission. Besides, he might frighten the children.

Marginally less alarming was Valentine. Chaos could detect Jenova from miles away, his own personal grudge widening his range of sensitivity. What he was like with children, Elfe had no idea. If she could avoid working with him, she was going to, yet this was one instance where he might prove useful if not companionable.

"I'll come," her father volunteered. Elfe smiled, but shook her head. Although he'd provide good moral support, and could probably manage children, this was not a mission for him.

"I need you here," she insisted. "I need somebody familiar in case Sephiroth wakes up while we're gone. Please see that he's not alone?"

Veld opened his mouth, paused, and closed it again, nodding in agreement.

"Aeris, Valentine, with me. We're going to help Palmer find Sephiroth's brothers."

* * *

Elfe did not have much experience with children. She did, however, have plenty of experience being a leader. This involved less bossing others around and more constantly putting out fires, trying to organize chaos, and generally herding cats. Commanding troops was a lot like babysitting- just taller.

That in mind, she was secretly glad Valentine and Aeris were with her. Although their Summons could sense Jenova, none of them had ever met Sephiroth's younger brothers. All she really knew about them was their names and that they were related to Shinra's most celebrated general.

Sephiroth ought to be here helping to track down his wayward siblings. However, he was still unconscious in the Deepground medical wing. At least this way when he woke up, he'd have his family about him. Unless of course he woke up while they were gone, and while she had wanted to be there when he opened his eyes, it wasn't as if he'd be alone. Her father, Rhapsodos, and Rui would be there, and Colonel Fair was running things in his stead. He'd still be among friends.

"They're not here," Valentine said, almost as soon as they reached the outskirts of Kalm.

"How do you know? Elfe asked.

"I don't sense Jenova anywhere," he replied. "Normally I can feel her, even smell her."

"And you don't right now?"

Valentine shook his head. "No, sorry."

"Damn," she grumbled. "Then where the hell are they?"

' _They will be hungry_ ,' Zirconiade spoke up. ' _The Crisis feeds on the planet's lifeblood. They will have gone to find mako._ '

"You alright?" Aeris asked her.

"Sorry, fine,' she said, returning to the present. "Zircon had a suggestion. Does Kalm have a reactor?"

"Sure but it's old and small," Vincent told her.

"Let's check that before we move on, just to make sure."

"I'll go," Valentine volunteered.

"Is there any other source of mako nearby?" Aeris asked.

In her mind's eye, Elfe beheld a vast expanse of grassland stretched out before her. A herd of chocobo browsed among the tall grass. Mountains loomed in the distance; the plains and foothills separated by an impassable swamp.

The Zolom marshes?

' _The great serpents swim amid that which you call dark mako,_ ' Zircon explained. ' _They tunnel the veins and arteries through which the blood of Gaia flows. Dark mako is quieter, less powerful, but it is the nearest food source to hand._ '

' _Brilliant._ ' Three little kids trying to drink swamp water from a marsh full of fifty foot snakes.

"We need to head for the Zolom Marshes," Elfe commanded. "It's the nearest source of mako. Jenova will lure the kids there."

"A ten-year-old couldn't get that far on foot, much less a six-year-old, not even one souped up on Jenova."

"Yes they can," Elfe argued, thinking of Sephiroth. "They may be baby SOLDIERs, but they're still SOLDIERs. I wouldn't put it past them."

"Then let's get going."

* * *

The surrounding countryside was famed for its proliferation of wild chocobo, and while they could have hired birds at the nearby ranch, they chose to fly instead. Before, she had had to trip a limit break before Zircon's wings would extend for her back. Now, with the full materia taking up the back of her right hand, the crystalline wings unfurled at her command, and carried her into the sky. Vincent likewise took to the air, his long cloak morphing into the now familiar red leather wings. Aeris, with no wings of her own, clung to Vincent's back, arms around his neck and skirt flapping in the wind.

Elfe would have thought it would be easier to spot three children in so much empty landscape, especially from above. As it was, she only had a general idea from which direction Jenova beckoned. The boys had stopped at the chocobo ranch and pillaged greens and nuts, probably for snacking purposes, but had not been seen. Elfe made sure to compensate the owner for the loss. ALthough the children were nowhere to be found, it did prove what she'd suspected: baby SOLDIER could indeed move every bit as fast as their grownup counterparts.

"Well, they haven't stolen a chocobo," Aeris confirmed. "All the birds are present and accounted for, as are all the lure materia."

"They couldn't hope to catch a while bird without one," Elfe agreed. "So they're still on foot. Do you suppose they would have headed to Fort Condor?"

Aeris shrugged. "If they knew where it was, maybe. It's a little bit out of the way, and there's no reactor* there, so no source of mako. Mr. Valentine's doing a quick flyover just to make sure."

As if on cue, Vincent landed, bats wings fanning the grass flat.

"Any sign?" Elfe asked him.

Valentine shook his head. "No. I've asked the chief to keep an eye out for them in case they do head in that direction. He's sent a small team to scout the immediate area."

"Good. Let's keep moving. They don't have many other places they can hide."

Except as creatures half the size of an adult, children could make anything into a hiding place. Even the tall grass would screen them from others on ground level. From above, however, it was easier to pick out movement amid the endless sea of green.

Elfe started as Vincent sheared off abruptly and Aeris shouted and pointed: "There!"

Squinting, Elfe could just make out a trio of little silver-white dots at the edge of the Zolom marsh.

"Let's not frighten them," she called over the wind. "Land a little ways off."

Vincent nodded and doubled back a bit. If the children had seen them, they gave no indication. All three crouched at the edge of the swamp, attention engaged elsewhere.

"Aeris and I will take point," Elfe instructed. "Valentine, keep an eye on them from a distance, so you can head them off if they run into the swamp."

Nodding, Vincent took off again. Overhead surveillance was not what she'd been picturing, but it would work. Shrugging to herself, Elfe waded through the waist-high grass with Aeris right beside her.

The eldest stood over the younger two, a sharp-ended stick in his hands. The smaller boys crouched at the swamp's edge, lifting cupped hands to their mouths.

"Yorozuya!" Elfe called, cupping her hands and hoping she'd gotten the pronunciation right. "Yasuragi! Katagi!"

All three looked up, the smaller boys starting to their feet and edging behind their brother.

"Are you boys alright?"

Yorozuya scowled and brandished his stick. "Stay back!" he warned. "You leave us alone!"

"It's okay, sweetie," Aeris put in. "We're not going to hurt you."

The boy did not look as if he believed this at all. "Go away! Don't come any closer."

Rather than force the issue, Elfe stopped still several yards off. Yorozuya seemed somewhat surprised by this, for his scowl relaxed into something closer to confusion.

"Where's Sephiroth?" he demanded. "Where's our brother? Why isn't he here?"

"He was wounded," Elfe explained, voice catching slightly. "He's okay now," she hoped, "but he's still in the hospital. I'm here to take you to him."

Tears welled up in the boy's eyes. "You're lying!" he shouted, tears spilling over. "Sephiroth's _dead!_ _You_ killed him! Mother said so!"

Hoo-boy. Elfe exchanged a glance with Aeris. If Jenova was feeding them lies, how were they going to persuade them? Elfe wondered if it wouldn't be simpler just to cast Sleep on all three of them and carry them back?

"My daddy thought I was dead for a long time," Elfe began, inspiration striking. Tilting Veritas out of the way, she sat cross-legged on the grass as if she had all the time in the world. "When I was very little, there was a fire in my town. Our house and everyone else's burned to the ground. My mom and I got separated from my dad. He couldn't find us. My mom got hurt and she died, but I was okay. However, it took my daddy a long time to find me again. He really thought I had died, but I hadn't."

All three of them were watching her now. Yorozuya had relaxed somewhat, stick held loosely at his side.

"How old were you?" the youngest one- Katagi- asked.

"I was three years old when I got lost," Elfe told him. "My daddy didn't find me until I was twenty-nine."

Their eyes had become as wide as dinner plates. Twenty-nine was unfathomably ancient to a child. Twenty-six years without a parental figure of some kind was probably beyond their comprehension. Yorozuya shifted uneasily.

"Mother says you're lying. She says you'll kill us if we go with you."

"I don't kill children," Elfe told him with some indignation. She might be a wanted terrorist, but she had standards. The boys still looked skeptical.

"I know your...mother...doesn't like me," Elfe went on by way of full disclosure. "Any mom would be worried about her kids. All I want to do is take you back to your brother."

They held a whispered consultation amongst themselves.

Elfe leaned and muttered to Aeris: "You got a Sleep materia?"

Aeris nodded.

"Keep it handy."

The boys turned back to face them. "I don't trust you," Yorozuya announced. "We're not going anywhere with you. You're a stranger. You should never go anywhere with a stranger."

Elfe had to concede that this was sound logic. Maybe they should have brought someone the boys were already familiar with.

"What if Dr. Palmer were to come and get you? Or Ms. Scarlet?"

Yorozuya considered this for a moment and glanced at each of his brothers.

"No," he insisted. "We'll only go with Sephiroth. He _promised_ he'd come back for us!"

"Think they'd come as far as the chocobo farm?" Aeris asked, sotto-voiced. "We can't very well leave them out here all by themselves."

"I don't know, I've never parlayed with an eleven-year-old before," and it was harder than she'd thought. It might also be something she'd need to get good at. The worry that she'd put aside in the face of the mission bubbled up again. If she and Sephiroth were to try to make this work long term, there were going to be three other men- small men- in her life by association. This was not how she'd wanted to start out with them. Well, if she was going to be an authority figure to them, perhaps she'd better get started.

"If Sephiroth could have come himself, he would have," Elfe told them. "That's why I'm here, so I can take you back to him." Getting to her feet, she offered her hand to him. "Please, come home with me?"

A horrible look passed over the boy's face, a twist of emotion that should never be experienced by a child. Dropping the stick he turned, grabbed his brothers each by a hand and _ran_.

Elfe realized two equally unfortunate things at once: one, the hand she'd offered in truce held the Zirconiade materia and two, they'd taken off straight into the middle of the Zolom swamp. Grumbling a curse that made Aeris blink, Elfe raced after them. Valentine's bat-like shadow passed overhead, which was oddly reassuring.

" _STOP THEM!_ " she shouted at the sky. The shadow gave an unmistakable salute and swooped lower.

She shrieked involuntarily as the snake reared up, tall as a skyscraper, in an explosion of reeds and swamp water. The boys screeched to a halt, letting out cries of their own. The younger two broke ranks and ran, leaving Yorozuya standing wide-eyed and petrified at the thousand-foot serpent. Elfe felt the crystal wings burst from her back, the diamond armor appear as she drew her sword. Katagi ran past her, right into Aeris. Off to her right, she felt the rush of wind as Valentine dove and snatched up a screaming Yasuragi. That left Yorozuya, herself, and the snake.

Elfe grabbed him by the shoulder and thrust the boy behind her, keeping a firm grip on his arm.

"Let go!" he screamed, trying to jerk free.

"You run, you attract the attention of another one of these monsters," she told him shortly. "You stay with me and do as I tell you."

"You're her…" he said, voice trembling. "The crystal goddess, Zirconiade. Mother said ages ago you tried to kill her…"

"And a couple weeks ago she tried to kill _me_ , so we'll call it even."

"She...what?"

"Not now," Elfe snapped, dragging the boy with her as she dodged a lunge from the snake, its jaws slamming shut with a force that made the ankle-deep water ripple. It followed them, loop after loop of its body rolling through the water like a garden hose cranked to full blast. Fifty feet above them it loomed, hood spread wide and fangs bared. Behind her, she could feel Yorozuya shaking in her grip. She couldn't keep yanking him around like this. The middle of a battle with an enormous water snake was no time to pull out her PHS, otherwise she might have called Vincent for an emergency pick-up. With any luck he'd be along soon, but until then…

"Get on my back," she ordered, crouching down. "Now."

Bless him, he didn't ask, but clambered awkwardly onto her back. Elfe hefted him with one hand. He was almost too big for her to carry, but Zirconiade made the extra seventy-some pounds feather light.

The snake snapped and Elfe leaped to one side, taking to the air, a spray of swamp water chasing her as the Zolom crashed to earth. Enraged it turned and hissed, stretching after them. Scythe-like fangs as long as she was tall gleamed white and lethal. Elfe dodged and darted, confusing the serpent rather than trying to engage. Arms locked around her neck so tightly she could barely breathe, Yorozuya whimpered and held on. She didn't dare head toward the solid ground of the plains. Zoloms didn't move well on dry land, but could still be a threat. Hoping to draw it off a bit, she flew toward the foothills of the abandoned mythril mines.

"The land's the other way!" Yorozuya shouted.

"So is the snake!" Elfe countered. "Hold your tongue!"

"Go higher!" he urged, arms and legs squeezing tighter.

Rather than argue, Elfe shot straight up with one mighty flap of her crystal wings. A resounding crash like the snap of a steel trap rang out below her, followed closely by a gunshot and, a moment later, a heavy splash. Turning her ascent into a sweeping curve, she rounded to see Valentine in the act of slinging an antique rifle over one shoulder. Below him, the snake lay limp and lifeless as a single strand of spaghetti.

"I took Aeris and the other two to solid ground," he reported.

"We're going straight back," she informed him. If she put Yorozuya down, he might not consent to be picked up again. Valentine nodded.

"Think you can take the smaller one if take Aeris?"

"Yes. Let's go."

* * *

Both Yorozuya and Katagi were quiet the entire trip back. It wasn't easy, even with Zirconiade's strength, to carry the smaller boy in her arms while balancing the larger one on her back. Indeed, Katagi fell asleep before they'd passed over the chocobo ranch. Yorozuya stayed awake much longer, both thrilled and terrified to be flying. However, as the sun set set, making a broken fence of Midgar's surviving skyline, she felt his head nod against her neck and knew that he too had fallen asleep.

Aeris had already cast Sleep on Yasuragi, and Valentine held him, waiting until Elfe had landed. At once Aeris cast Sleep on the younger two, and took Katagi from her. Elfe hefted Yorozuya higher onto her shoulders and trudged toward the crater full of mako that had no so long ago held Sephiroth, Rhapsodos, and the two Tsviets.

"You got the materia?" Elfe asked, wading into the sea-green liquid. Aeris nodded and passed her the Bahamut summons. To Valentine she handed the Bahamut Neo, and kept Bahamut Zero for herself. Taking a deep breath, Elfe closed her fingers around the red stone.

"Let's christen these baby dragons."


	7. Triplets

Sephiroth had not yet awakened, and Elfe could not decide if she was pleased or disappointed about that. She would have hated if he'd woken alone, but waking up alone was better than not waking up at all. Rhapsodos had kept a faithful eye on him, but assured her there had been no change.

"And were you successful on your quest?" he asked. "What was so important that it tore you from your beloved's bedside?"

Elfe rolled her eyes. "As if I've been here more than ten minutes at a stretch with the whole city in ruins and everyone and Deepground open to the sky."

Rhapsodos smirked, but it the expression somehow came off less smug and more kind.

"Sephiroth's brothers had gone missing. Dr. Palmer was watching them for him and they ran away at Jenova's suggestion."

"Brothers?" Rhapsodos echoed. "I was not aware sephiroth had any living family."

"Neither was he until about a month ago," Elfe told him. "He mentioned them back in Corel. They're all a lot younger than he is. In-Vitro," she shrugged.

"The miracle of science," Rhapsodos observed dryly. "So are you ready to be a mother?"

"Hey, I command fifty-thousand troops," she told him. "How hard can it be to keep three grade-schoolers under control?"

Rhapsodos looked amused. "I suppose you'll find out."

Elfe smiled. "I'm sure I will."

* * *

The boys had slept through the entire ordeal. Elfe had been afraid Sephiroth's brothers would awaken upon receiving their Summon materia. Like their older brother, each had started awake, gasping, upon rebirth, and just as quickly dropped into unconsciousness again. Each had briefly displayed a pair of wings before passing out: Yorozuya bat wings of midnight blue, Yasuragi a triple set of red feathers, and Katagi a triad of bladelike silver wings that looked as if they'd been forged of polished steel. She made sure they were placed in a room near Sephiroth's instead of with the orphans of Midgar and the surviving children of Deepground.

Not all of the little ones from Deepground had been born SOLDIERs. Easily half had been abducted and press ganged into service like Rui's younger sister, Shelke. The doctors and volunteer caregivers reported that the rescued children were doing well, all things considered. The rescued surrogates had each unofficially adopted a clutch of three to five children and they all seemed pleased with the arrangement. If it made them happy and got things done, Elfe was not about to argue. The younger children would bounce back. Kids were resilient that way. It was the older ones who would probably need help before they could heal the less visible scars in their hearts and minds.

Sephiroth's brothers had been through their own ordeals, the details of which Elfe knew nothing. Since Sephiroth couldn't directly keep his promise to them, Elfe made sure she was present when they woke up so she could keep it for him.

"How do you feel?" she asked as Yorozuya blinked himself away a brief twenty-four hours later.

"Okay…" he replied, hesitant. "There's a dragon in my head, and I can't hear Mother."

"Is the dragon nice?"

He nodded. "Yeah. She keeps calling me 'little brother'. Except I'm not a little brother, I'm a big brother."

Elfe smiled, amused. "You're Sephiroth's little brother."

The boy thought about that for a minute, then nodded. "Yeah. He's a _much_ bigger brother." He contemplated his lap for a moment, one hand picking at the baggy hospital pajamas. "You didn't kills us. Are you going to?"

"No," she told him, trying to infuse the word with as much tenderness as two letters could hold. "You're safe here."

"Where's Sephiroth? You said you were going to take us to him. Was that true?"

Elfe nodded. "It's true. He's in the next room. He's still asleep, but you can see him if you want."

She held out her hand- the same one that bore the Zirconiade materia- and this time he took it. Leading him into the hall, she opened the next door down and let him in.

" _Oh my gods, Rhapsodos!_ " she exclaimed, hurriedly clapping a hand over the boy's eyes.

Both Rui and Rhapsodos snapped to. It took them an awkward moment to disentangle themselves from the impassioned kiss they'd been engaged in.

"What?" Rhapsodos demanded. "You can't tell us to get a room, this _is_ my room! Why didn't you knock?"

Rui was trying to stammer out some sort of excuse or apology, but wasn't making much progress. Elfe took in her jeans and t-shirt, and decided it might be wisest just to let this one slide.

"Go on," she told her gently, trying hard to swallow her amusement. "Nothing's happened here."

Without a word, the nurse hurried out of the room. Only then did Elfe lift her hand from Yorozuya's eyes. Once uncovered, his eyes grew wide.

"General Rhapsodos…" he breathed. After half a beat he made a self-conscious salute. "Sir."

"At ease," Rhapsodos told him, straight-faced, and returned salute. "What's your name, recruit?"

"Loz," he answered. Elfe blinked. "S'what my brothers call me," he explained. "My full name's kind of a lot to say."

"Would you rather I called you 'Loz'?" Elfe asked.

The boy nodded. "Yes, please. Can I see Sephiroth now?"

"Yes, of course." Rhapsodos pulled the curtain back and Elfe ushered Loz toward the bed. Sephiroth had not moved. Loz stretched to get a better look.

"Is he okay?" he asked, worry plain on his young face.

"He's fine," Elfe reassured him, hoping desperately that it was true. "He was hurt, and he's still tired. He'll be up soon."

"How soon?"

"I don't know," she admitted.

"What if he doesn't wake up?"

"He will," Elfe insisted.

"But…"

"Then I'll take care of you myself. All of you."

Rhapsodos blinked at this, thunderstruck, and Elfe shot him a defiant look over Loz's head. The General took a step back and raised his hands in surrender. Loz seemed skeptical as well.

"Really?" he asked.

"Really."

"Excuse me, Commander?" Rui- now dressed in scrubs- poked her head back into the room. "The younger two are awake."

"Thank you, Rui."

The nurse salute and excused herself.

"I should make sure they're not freaking out," Loz said. Elfe smiled despite her best efforts. He might only be eleven, but Loz was already quite the leader.

"Okay, let's go see," Elfe agreed. "Do your brothers have nicknames too?"

"Yazoo n' Kadaj. Kadaj couldn't say our names very well when he was little."

Elfe nodded. "Good to know."

"Here you are." It was Rui again, the younger two each holding a hand. She led them inside and then stepped back, disappearing out into the hall. They also stared wide-eyed at Rhapsodos, who engaged them politely as he had Yorozuya. No, Loz. He wanted to be called "Loz". It occurred to her then that as entertaining as it might be, Rhapsodos couldn't babysit them for her all day. Taking out her own PHS, she fired off a few texts to her sub-commanders. She hadn't paid terribly much attention to the finer details of the work she'd delegated. What was being done with the children- outside of making sure they were safe, fed, and under control- had been pretty far down on her "to do" list. Now, however, it had been bumped to the top.

The unattended children- some of them orphans, some of them just separated from their parents in the chaos- were all being housed in one place. The Deepground kids had been put in their own little quarantined area, but were allowed to play and interact with the other children. So far, no blood had been drawn. Elfe didn't really want to put Sephiroth's brothers in with all the unclaimed children. They did, after all, have family. Said family was just unconscious. Not that Sephiroth might have a better idea what to do with them than she did. Too bad he didn't have any older relatives lurking about…

"There you are."

Elfe turned to see Veld standing in the doorway.

"Fair got your text. Palmer's been calling every five minutes wanting to know if you'd found the kids okay. Clearly, you have."

Elfe smiled and went over to him. "Yeah, we're all back in one piece. I don't suppose I could call in a favor?"

"Darlin' I owe you about thirty years worth of favors."

"Good. Can you watch the boys for me?"

Veld blinked.

"Look, nothing's set up yet in the way of school and probably won't be for a while," she explained. "They're not sick, so they can't stay here. Set something up for them; a place to sleep near my or Sephiroth's quarters, and let them play with the other children if they want. Until Sephiroth wakes up, I'm acting guardian."

"Er, okay," Veld blinked again and nodded. "So you're really doing this? Looking after three kids- even half-grown kids, it a lot of responsibility."

"They're not puppies, daddy," Elfe remarked dryly. "I command fifty-thousand men and then some. I think I can handle a couple of grade-schoolers."

"For how long?" Veld challenged gently. "I know you don't wanna hear this but...what if he doesn't wake up?"

Elfe glanced over the heads of the three boys toward the drawn curtains around Sephiroth's bed. It was the one thing she hadn't been planning for. She didn't want to. Rhapsodos and the Tsviets had woken up, why couldn't Sephiroth. But if he didn't… She swallowed hard, throat and stomach squeezing unpleasantly. No. No, she had to consider all options even if she didn't like them. Taking a deep breath, Elfe made sure her voice was steady when she spoke.

"I already promised them I'd look out for them. I'm not going to break that promise."

Veld gave her a long, measuring look. "You sure? They're not yours. You're not obliged to them. You could do right by them by seeing they're adopted; all three of them sent to a good home. Can you care for three kids _and_ command an army? Granted they're old enough to take orders, but they still need someone to care for them."

"I made them a promise," she repeated, locking eyes with him. "Under any other circumstances you'd be harassing me about when I was going to get married and start a family. I don't see how this makes a difference. Are you trying to tell me I cannot do my job and look after the people important to me?"

He backed down at once, lowering his gaze to study the floor. "No. Gods, no. I only meant...it's a lot for one person to handle. You shouldn't have to do it alone."

"So will you help me?"

Veld offered her a lopsided grin. "Looks like I got me some grandkids."

It was Elfe's turn to blink. "Excuse me?"

"Just pullin' your leg, sweetheart. C'mon boys," he said, calling out to the three youngsters still crowded around Rhapsodos. "Let's let the General get his beauty rest."

That made the boys giggle, Rhapsodos' indignant expression only making them snicker harder. Elfe followed Veld and the boys out into the hall, PHS still in hand. She should call Palmer and let him know they boys were alright. It occurred to her that she did not have his number, but it would be the last one dialed on Sephiroth's PHS. Replacing her own phone and digging in her pocket, she pulled out Sephiroth's SOLDIER issue PHS.

"Commander!"

She looked up sharply as Rhapsodos staggered to the door and leaned out.

"He's awake!"

The phone clattered to the floor forgotten, Palmer's voice echoing "Hello? Hello?" unheard. Since he was obviously about to fall over, Elfe helped Rhapsodos back to his own bed before pulling the curtain aside. Her breath caught in her throat as she watched pain cross Sephiroth's face. He stretched stiffly where he lay, green eyes squinting at her through the pale winter sunlight filtering through the dirty window.

"...Elfe?"

Her strength left her with the released breath, and she sank down to sit on the edge of the bed. Reaching, she took his hand in hers and smiled.

"Hey," she told him. "Welcome back."


End file.
